Professional Education Fraternity Chapter to Host Afterschool Reading Program

02/14/2012 09:44 AM

BATON ROUGE – The Kappa Delta Epsilon honorary professional education fraternity, or KDE, will host a Readers’ Theatre afterschool program at Highland Elementary on March 27 from 3:30 – 5 p.m. The event is part of a series of philanthropic local outreach events for the organization.

“This will be an opportunity for KDE members to help support the cause of education in our local community,” said Service Chair Hannah Darphin, an elementary education student in the LSU College of Education.

Reader’s Theatre is a dramatic expression of literature in script form. Parts are divided up amongst a group of students and read aloud. As the scripts are read by the students when performing, lines do not have to be memorized.

“Readers Theatre is a wonderful way to enhance comprehension while encouraging enthusiasm in learning,” said Darphin. “The use of Readers’ Theatre allows for a different situation where students are exposed to literature focusing on various content areas like social studies, science, art and poetry.”

Students will break into small groups with a KDE volunteer as a leader and each one choose a part in their Readers’ Theatre script. They will make masks to represent the character they are playing and practice reading the scripts. The KDE mentors will also lead a discussion with the students about what types of expression and gestures are appropriate for each character. Following this, each group of students will perform their script for other groups and KDE volunteers.

“It is important that we promote community involvement and recognize the need to give back,” said Darphin. “It also supports our desires to better the education for the local area students. We have a wonderful resource of young women and men who are passionate about education. As future teachers, KDE members will be role models to hundreds of students throughout our lives. We hope to promote good habits of regular community service that we can pass on to our students.”

Registration is open to all KDE members, but spots are limited and on a first-come-first-serve basis.

The Kappa Delta Epsilon Honorary Professional Education Fraternity is a College of Education student organization that promotes the cause of education by fostering a spirit of fellowship, high standards of scholastic attainment and professional ideals.